Entry 4 : Friday July 16, 2010
It’s already Friday of week three! Can’t believe how fast this trip is going. Thankfully I got a lot checked off the list this week.
Wednesday after class a group of us went to see a play called “Lilies of the Land” to count as our contemporary play. It was so good! It’s about four women who worked through the army on farms in England during WWII and they tell their own individual stories to the audience. It was so neat and interesting to hear what kinds of things women during the war in their positions had to go through. I cried a couple times. After a short break Meredith and I finally went to see a musical, “Les Miserables”. Let’s just say I’m obsessed. I had never seen it but had only heard how wonderful it is and it was! I know that it is Bo’s favorite of all time. Also to my surprise, Nick Jonas was in it!! And he had a pretty big part. He was lovely :) Later we went to Los Locos to hang out for a little bit.

Thursday we went to Westminster Abbey and the Winston Churchill Cabinet War Rooms museum. So neat! Lots of WWII history and secret meetings took place down there. It was required and expensive, but still very interesting. We ate Italian for dinner. Today we slept late and went to the British Museum and saw what we had to there, then Meredith and Katheryn Williams and I went to Harrods. I’m really glad we finally went. We got some good gifts for people. Tonight it’s time for Hard Rock London!

Entry 3: July 11, 2010
On Thursday July 8 we got out of class at 10 and basically headed straight to the train station to go to Paris! It was a 2-hour train ride and I slept for most of it. When we finally got off the train it was so much hotter than in London. Also, everything started to be in French. Language barrier! We immediately went to get passes for the metro, as they call the subways there, and as soon as we all carded through the first gate, there was something wrong with Meredith’s, so we had to wait 30 minutes for the ladies at the front to reprocess her metro card and give her one that wasn’t deactivated.

Finally we made it through the gross metros all the way to our hostel, which may or may not have been in the worst and nastiest part of Paris. We came out of the underground into the sweltering heat and were standing in the worst part of town only for our hostel rooms to be unbearably hot. That’s another thing. It’s just as hot as in N.C. but there is no AC anywhere, so it is impossible to get cool. After settling in our tiny sweltering rooms of three, we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. We got off the metro at the correct spot but didn’t really know where it was so we just started walking straight, walked past a tall building, and then all the sudden there it was! It was so exciting to see it like that, so unexpected! It’s also way bigger than I thought! We walked down and under it then just kept walking until we found somewhere to eat. Then we ate dinner at another hot restaurant and started our way back to the tower, only to see that it was lit up so beautifully by this point! We waited under it for Sarah Anne and then it all the sudden started twinkling! We later learned that this happens on the hour at night. FINALLY, we were reunited with Sarah Anne and we all went up the tower together around midnight. This was definitely my favorite part of the entire trip. It was an ordeal trying to find cabs back to our hostel but we finally made it.

Friday was jam packed. We hit all the touristy spots in one day: Notre Dame, the Louvre, and Arc de Triomphe. We ended up sitting under the arc for about 2 hours waiting for Sarah Anne because we were so worn out and delirious. After dinner we went to see where Sarah Anne is living. It’s very pretty over there! Saturday we ate lunch and walked around for a bit before going to the museum where Napoleon is buried (I forget the name of it) and then it was time to head back to London. We were all basically very excited about that. But Paris was beautiful and it was great to see Sarah Anne!

Entry 2: July 4, 2010
Thursday we had class in the a.m. then came back and got some work done before we went into Covent Garden to see “Romeo and Juliet.” I loved it there! Cobblestone streets with lots of shops and restaurants, and no traffic! We had dinner outside at a little place on the street, and then walked over to where some guys from N.Y. were doing some serious break dancing! They were touring Europe with their show. Then it was time for the play, which was on some old church grounds called the Actor's Church. It was a very neat show. The actors wore modern clothes with modern props and set pieces. The audience moved from set piece to set piece on different parts of the church grounds so you had to book it to get a good view for each scene. The actors were incredible and I really appreciated the performance after studying it so intensely with Dr. Walton this week. I have a whole new perspective on “Romeo and Juliet”! After that we went to a little place called O'Neil's to hang out. We finally got to see London at night!

Friday we had class then rested a while until we went to dinner for Kathryn's (a girl in our group) birthday. I had some really good pasta. Then we went out for a little bit. Today we got up early and headed to Notting Hill to go to the Portobello market, which is open only on weekends. It was very crowded! But there was lots of neat stuff and I got some really tasty bruschetta for lunch. Then we headed over to Trafalgar Square for the gay pride parade. Most interesting.

Right now I'm just hanging out in my room waiting to go to dinner somewhere. We're going as a whole group to church at St. Paul's Cathedral in the morning so I am really looking forward to that! After that we'll head over to Hyde Park to watch Speaker's Corner.

Entry 1: Wednesday, June 30

We got to London at 7 a.m. Monday London time with an overnight flight. Then we immediately got our luggage and began the long haul to Heythrop College where we are living and studying. I packed way too much. Really don’t know how I’m going to get it all plus more stuff back. We then headed to our rooms to unpack and rest a little bit before a bus/boat tour of London at 2. Normally the bus tour would have been very nice but I was so tired and hot I feel asleep for about half of it! But I was awake in time to see Big Ben and the Tower Bridge! The boat ride tour on the Thames River was nice too. It was Meredith’s and my 21st birthdays, so it was definitely neat to arrive in England as we turned 21! That night four of us ate at a little Italian place and split pizzas which were yummy!

Yesterday, Tuesday, was the first day of class! Both classes should be very interesting. We started “Romeo and Juliet” and are going to see it tomorrow night. After class we went to tour the famous Tower of London! We saw the rooms and towers in which the old kings and queens and other important people of England used to live. So many infamous stories happened there. It was most interesting because we all had to read a book on Henry VIII/ Anne Boleyn, who lived, was beheaded, and was buried there. It is supposedly the most haunted place on the planet. We also got to see the crown jewels of the royals. After that we visited a memorial that honors all of the American Soldiers who died in England during WWII, then ate dinner at Wagamama (Asian food).

Today was our second day of class. We all were given partners and had to act out the balcony scene from “Romeo and Juliet” at different places on campus. I was Juliet and spoke from another girl’s room window. HA! Some were pretty funny. We were really excited to head to Wimbledon this afternoon to watch a match on the lawn! We heard it was free so we made the long tube ride and walked to Wimbledon only to find the cheapest option was to sit on the lawn and watch a match on a SCREEN for 20 pounds! No thank you. So we ended up going to the Imperial War Museum, which is something we have to do, instead. That was interesting. Lots of stuff about WWII. We found a place that had really good burgers to eat for dinner :)

It’s so nice here and people are so friendly. I’m loving it so far. The tubes are right next to are building so we here the trains constantly, but that’s okay I guess. What’s cute is that on the other side there’s a tennis/basketball court like place where little British school children play in the mornings. So I just look at my window while I’m getting ready and can watch and hear the little kiddies play. So cute to hear their little accents!